Jackson: We want to win the Papa John's trophy and get promoted
By Alessandro Schiavone at The Valley
Johnnie Jackson said that Charlton should build on their impressive 4-1 win over Southampton’s Under-21s in the Papa John’s Trophy last night to turn their miserable league form around.
The former midfielder spent the last eight years of his career at The Valley and is now the assistant to manager Nigel Adkins.
He emphasised that the Addicks aren’t in this competition to make up the numbers but instead aspire to go all the way after taking maximum points from their first two games.
Their cup form stands in stark contrast to how their league fortunes. Six defeats and two draws from their last 10 League One fixtures have sent the Addicks sliding towards the chilly regions and they now sit fourth from bottom and in the relegation zone.
Jackson said: “When things aren’t going well I feel it as much as anybody and it hurts me, it hurts me bad. I am keen to play my part in putting it right. I want to see this football club at the other end of the league, I want us to get promoted. That never changes.
“I think you have seen from the two games that we have played so far that we take this competition seriously. This year certainly because of how big our squad is and how many players we got to choose from it has got a different feel about it. We are playing lads that aren’t playing [in the league]. But the team that we put out, that could be a starting 11 in the league.
“They are all capable of and they have all played in our first team. We definitely take the Papa John’s Trophy seriously and we want to win every game that we play. We are through and into the next round and when that comes along that will be a game that we will try and win. We are never going to a game not expecting to win. We will see where it takes us but we will attempt to win every game we can."
Very often managers play a second-string formation in the early rounds of a competition but once they reach the business end of the tournament, those same players who get them that far in the first place will have to make way to accommodate the key players.
When asked whether Charlton Athletic will start fielding a full-strength line-up the deeper they go into this competition, Jackson said:
“Like I say [the team that played tonight] that could be a starting 11 in the league. We’ve had to change our team because we have been losing. Jayden Stockley was leading the line in every league game at one stage, so there is that competition.
“But the further you go in the competition you need to start thinking about the reward. At the end of the day, you play football because you want to win medals, prizes and trophies.”
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